BELGRADE, Feb. 7 (Xinhua) -- European Union has given 28 million euros (34.38 million U.S. dollars) to Serbia to improve integrated border control, and 16 million euros for the needs of migrants in Serbia, the government stated in a press release.
The signing was attended by Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic and the EU Commissioner for neighborhood policy and enlargement Johannes Hahn, who is currently on a visit to Serbia.
Jadranka Joksimovic, Serbian minister of European Integration said that the first donation "will make possible that border patrols secure free movement of people and capital at the same time making borders better controlled, which is important in the context of the migrant crisis".
An additional 16 million euros is related to the needs of the migrants that are temporarily sheltered in Serbia -- their housing, health services and education, Joksimovic added.
Hahn said that the donations deliver on the promise that the EU will help countries struck by a massive wave of migrants, and stressed that the EU donated more than 2 billion euros to Serbia since 2007.
Brnabic said that the "agreements on donation present a sign of the partnership Serbia has with the EU, not only in political sense, but also in other segments of development, both social and economic".
